The couple met in August 2005 on a cruise around Lower Manhattan for new medical students at Cornell. Ms. Magudia remembers that Mr. Nataraj, who had just returned from Namibia, was very tan. “He and his conversation were both very attractive,” Ms. Magudia said. “I’m pretty talkative, and I like asking questions. When I began to ask about his life and his travels, especially his time in the Peace Corps, I think he really liked the attention.”

Kirti Magudia and Anand G. Nataraj were married Saturday at Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek, Calif. Prabha Duneja, a Hindu priest, performed the ceremony.

The bride, 26, is studying for a joint medical degree and Ph.D. in cell biology at Cornell. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.

She is the daughter of Hemlata Magudia and Narshi Magudia of Walnut Creek. Her father is an engineering design manager in the telecommunications department at AT&T in San Ramon, Calif. Her mother is a sales supervisor at the Target store in Walnut Creek.

The bridegroom, 29, is to receive a medical degree from Cornell next month. He is then to begin a residency in emergency medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital in Manhattan. He graduated from New York University. From 2002 to 2004, he taught mathematics and science with the Peace Corps in Namibia.

He is the son of Dr. Chandra Nataraj and Raj G. Nataraj of Boonton, N.J. His mother is a radiation oncologist at St. Clare’s Hospital in Denville, N.J. His father retired as a director of strategic planning for Siemens, the German electronics manufacturer. He worked in Manhattan.

The couple met in August 2005 on a cruise around Lower Manhattan for new medical students at Cornell. Ms. Magudia remembers that Mr. Nataraj, who had just returned from Namibia, was very tan.

“He and his conversation were both very attractive,” Ms. Magudia said. “I’m pretty talkative, and I like asking questions. When I began to ask about his life and his travels, especially his time in the Peace Corps, I think he really liked the attention.”

They gradually began spending more time together, visiting museums and other places in the city. Mr. Nataraj built his own kayak while in college. In Ms. Magudia, whose bachelor’s degree is in mechanical engineering, he found a mate who could entertain his sometimes wacky ideas for inventions.

“Usually, when I tell her one of my ideas, she kind of pauses, and then makes this face,” Mr. Nataraj said with a chuckle. “After all of that, she’s perfectly willing to listen.”

Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL InterviewPeace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez.

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Story Source: New York Times

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Namibia; Marriage

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